Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of Jewish music, including klezmer and other traditions.
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The Schmooze ‘Kaddish’ in the Armory
“Strange now to think of you, gone without corsets & eyes, while I walk on / the sunny pavement of Greenwich Village. / downtown Manhattan, clear winter noon, and I’ve been up all night, talking, / talking, reading the Kaddish aloud..” So begins Allen Ginsberg’s “Kaddish,” a sprawling lament for his late mother, Naomi Ginsberg….
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The Schmooze Q&A: Herb Alpert on Becoming Tijuana Brass
Herb Alpert’s list of accomplishments is longer than, well, a trombone. He is the composer, arranger, trumpet player and leader of the famed Tijuana Brass, as well as a record producer (he and partner Jerry Moss founded A&M records), painter, sculptor and philanthropist. Alpert has had five number one hits, 15 gold and 14 platinum…
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The Schmooze Monday Music: Balkan Beat Goes On
Crossposted from Haaretz The penultimate song on “Give,” Balkan Beat Box’s new album, is poignantly titled “Enemy in Economy.” This light and humorous song mocks the varying suspicions that Americans harbor toward non-Americans, and in effect takes a stand against xenophobia. “Enemy in Economy” ends with a sort of musical pan of the length of…
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The Schmooze Israeli Arab Wins Yoko Ono Lennon Award
Crossposted from Haaretz Nabeel Abboud-Ashkar, a 34-year-old violinist and the director of the Polyphony Conservatory in Nazareth, will be awarded the Yoko Ono Lennon Courage Award for the Arts. The prize has been awarded annually since 2009 by Ono to artists from various fields for their efforts to promote peace through the arts. Ashkar founded…
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The Schmooze Monday Music: Gypsy Jazz in Jaffa
Photo by Ronen Goldman Finding my way through the cavern-like passages of Jaffa’s old city to the appropriately named Alleyway Theater (“Teatron Hasimta”) was an apt beginning to an evening of music with Israeli gypsy jazz trio Swing de Gitanes. On an intimate red-lit stage surrounded by bare, black walls Oren Sagi (double-bass), Yacov Hoter…
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The Schmooze Whither the Jewish Violinist?
Crossposted from Haaretz Pinchas Zuckerman, Itzhak Perlman and Shlomo Mintz are more than just great Israeli violinists. They are also symbols — proof that the legendary Russian-Jewish tradition has continued in Israel. This tradition — which produced virtuosos such as Jascha Heifetz, Yehudi Menuhin and Isaac Stern — has brought the world great Jewish musicians…
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The Schmooze Izabo Chosen as Israel’s Eurovision Rep
Crossposted from Haaretz The indie-rock band Izabo will represent Israel in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest with its song “Time,” the Israel Broadcasting Authority announced on Tuesday. The competition will take place in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, on May 22. Izabo was founded in 1989 by musician and musical producer Ran Shem-Tov, who provides…
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The Schmooze Monday Music: Diaspora Hip-Hop
Hip-hop has always been Diaspora music, or at least since the Jamaican-born Kool Herc started looping James Brown records in the early 1970s. Later on, people like the late Japanese producer Nujabes made the culture truly global. Shi 360, an Israeli raised in Canada by Maghrebi Jewish parents, who plays Afro-American music with roots in…
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